Private individuals and service members, such as police officers, who face potential attackers daily, rely on non-lethal weapons to incapacitate an assailant. Such weapons include alarms, alert lights, pepper or other deterrent sprays and even stunning device type weapons. While service members such as police officers frequently carry batons, deterrent sprays, stun guns, TASERs, and non-lethal projectile firing devices, they are not currently able to operate these non-lethal weapons individually with a single device.
For example, an individual wanting an alarm, deterrent spray and a stunning device must buy, and carry, three separate devices. When faced with assailant, an individual must fumble for the proper device, and, should an initial alarm or deterrent spray not be effective, the individual must release one of the devices in order to grab and operate the stunning device. As a result, an individual being attacked must be exposed and defenseless for the period of time when transitioning to a new deterrent device.
Similarly, a police officer, faced with an assailant in the dark, will likely have one hand holding a flashlight, while the other operates a chosen defense item. Should the situation escalate, however, the office must choose between dropping the flashlight or defense weapon to reach for his or her gun.
Other devices are known in the art that combine non-lethal protection devices, but these, too, have flaws. For example, it is known in the art to combine deterrent sprays or stunning devices with flashlights, but these devices do not offer the array of personal defense means currently available individually. Further, multifunction police tools that incorporate additional non-lethal defense devices often have a single control or switch with multiple positions to activate all incorporated devices. A single control or switch with multiple positions may result in accidental activation of an unwanted component. Other devices only allow sequenced activation of components, in which case the desired function (e.g., stunning device) may first be activated after turning on other components (e.g., flashlight, alarm). As a result, an individual may need more time to respond to a fast assailant.
Existing non-lethal defense devices generally contain a single intensity. Some stunning devices and TASERs may allow limited adjustment of the amount of voltage, but flashlights, alarms, alert lights, and deterrent sprays only activate at a single intensity.
It is desirable to have nonlethal weapons available for use with a single weapon mount structure.
It is desirable to have a single weapon mount structure incorporating many modular weapon components with individual controls and activation switches for each component.
It is desirable to have a single weapon mount structure incorporating many modular weapon components with adjustable intensity levels for each component.